Philip Seymour Hoffman Found Dead In His Apartment Of An Apparent Overdose

Philip Seymour Hoffman, who you could easily make a case was our best living actor, was found dead in his apartment today, according to the Wall Street Journal. Of all the actors to die, we had to lose the best one? This sucks.

The New York Police Department is investigating, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to determine exact cause of death. The official said Mr. Hoffman, 46 years old, was found dead at his apartment at 35 Bethune St. in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan. [WallStreetJournal]

The New York Post (I know, I know) is calling it a drug overdose, noting that Hoffman had been in rehab for heroin abuse last year. The WSJ writer adds some detail:

Law enforcement official: Actor wa found in the bathroom of 4th floor apartment with a needle in his arm. @wsj

We tend to slip into easy hyperbole and overblown praise after a person dies, which is almost unfair to Philip Seymour Hoffman, because he really was the absolute best of the best. He could play pretty much anything, from super-awkward weirdos in Happiness and Boogie Nights, to confident charmers. I can’t think of anything he wasn’t great in, not even Along Came Polly. He was one of those actors who was so good that once he played someone, you couldn’t see that character as anyone else. I read a book about Scientology recently, and after The Master it was absolutely impossible for me to get a mental image of L. Ron Hubbard that didn’t look and sound like Philip Seymour Hoffman. He could’ve easily won five more Oscars. I honestly think they just got tired of nominating him every year, like Philip Seymour Hoffman being great was such a given that it ceased to be noteworthy.

A real shame. Of course his family suffers the most, but the future of movies is also diminished. Many a great role is going to go under-served and movies that PSH could have carried are going to falter.

Read the trivia stuff about Capite and about shooting the scene before the execution. As much as I hate when people talk about actors and their “craft”, he was truly one of those guys who left it all on the field when he was doing his thing.

His character in Boogie Nights was the best. I love busting out my impression when I’m drunk….”Can I kiss you on the mouth?” “I wanted to make sure you thought it was cool, or I was gonna take it back.”

I would say he and Daniel Day-Lewis are the only actors I could watch in an incredibly boring movie and still enjoy the movie as a whole because of their presence.

Whenever I thought of how imposing he was in MI:3 or The Master, I remember that one of the first films I saw him in, he played a sniveling, awkward assistant.
His reaction after Bunny tells The Dude that she’ll blow him for a thousand dollars is so subtly perfect that I always rewind it, just in case my laughter caused me to blink.

This is one of the rare occasions where I don’t feel that any words I could muster would suffice in doing justice to the greatness of Mr. Hoffman. My thoughts are disconnected and would only serve to trivialize a man who, if possible, perfected the craft of acting.
Vince called him the best. I’ve argued this point with friends beginning with ‘Almost Famous’ on through ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’. In my opinion he made it a fact with ‘The Master’.
I will find little good to smile about, humor will escape me, and the Super Bowl will warrant little elation.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman is one of the actors who made me want to become a writer and film student, in the faintest of hopes that one day I’d be able to see him repeating the words that I’d written. This news is utterly deflating, to me personally, and I truly hope that there’s as much attention paid to Hoffman and his work, in the coming weeks, as there is attention spent on pop singers joyrides.
Hopefully, through this tragedy, many, many more people will be exposed to his mind-blowing abilities and become happier, better people for it as I feel I have.

that was very unexpected, I was just watching The Hunger Games (part 2), and thought he’s a great actor, i was actually thinking, he always played his roles good, I am a victim of the media that rendered him totally underrated…Sorry Mr Hoffman!…damn we lost you to the evil dragon…damn it, what a loss

A true treasure. Even if the movie he was in was somewhat questionable you could count on him to carry every scene he was in. Along Came Polly comes to mind. He was hilarious in that flick. Words cannot express my utter sadness. And I feel bad because he was just some actor that I never met, but he was the best and he will be dearly missed. RIP, Brandt.

He was a father of 3 small children and was in a loving relationship and they lost him to an addiction. An addiction is hard to break when you get hooked hell the man was clean for nearly 13 years until last year when he fell off the wagon. You probably don’t understand what an addiction is though so you can go fuck yourself.

@Ricardo_Bastardly Oh he’s clean for 13 years then all of a sudden when he “falls of the wagon” thats okay to glorify his shitty drug habit just because hes famous? Fuck you dude. I know all about addiction in every sense of the word. Thats why I feel so strongly about having no remorse for him just because he was famous.

Maybe W1ldcard didn’t phrase it with any tact, but I don’t think anger at PSH is unreasonable here. Yeah addiction is a bitch, but heroin is a choice. This is especially true if he was sober for 13 years! The fact that heroin can kill you in an instant is not an urban legend! We are all lamenting that we won’t get to see him in anymore movies. That’s his fault for sticking a needle in his arm! The guy had three kids and he DECIDED to do heroin. You can be sad and celebrate his movies all you want, but his death is the result of a selfish and shallow act. I love everything I’ve seen him in. None of us know him personally, but apparently part of him was a total POS.

I’m not a flawless, brilliant beacon of hope and light, without even the slightest of faults like out friend W1ldcard, so I’ll just say try not to judge to harshly someone and something I know nothing about.

“To not have empathy for that or for his family..” I think being upset at the idea that someone could be so selfish as to abuse heroin when they have a wife and 3 kids qualifies as empathy. I’m going to assume they don’t read the comments section of Uproxx, so I don’t have to worry about coming off as callous to them.